SBA Spokesman Terry Sutherland, Lloyd Chapman, Miscoding and Other Myths, According to the American Small Business League

The following is a statement from the American Small Business League President, Lloyd Chapman.

PETALUMA, Calif., Oct. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- I think I have figured out the real reason that not one journalist in America has written a single story on President Obama's intention to resurrect Ronald Reagan's plan to close the Small Business Administration (SBA) by combining it with the Department of Commerce.

It was big news when Ronald Reagan tried it 1985. Why not now?

You can't write about President Obama's plan to close the SBA because you would have to mention me. I am the only person in America that is objecting to Obama's plan to close the SBA and it seems it's just not possible to write about my exploits as a small business advocate.

As I have told the last 10 journalists that have interviewed me, whose stories never ran, you are not allowed to write an accurate story about Lloyd Chapman. The Feds simply won't allow it and they have hired some of the biggest names in the PR business, like APCO Worldwide to make sure of that.

The federal government is absolutely terrified of me. I think the government's fear of me intensified in 2005 when Entrepreneur magazine compared me to a "modern day Cesar Chavez."

The thought of a "modern day Cesar Chavez" organizing all 28 million small businesses must have been an absolutely terrifying proposition to the federal government. They probably had nightmares about 28 million small businesses marching on Washington and forcing them to stop cheating small businesses.

They had already learned I was a force to be reckoned with as a result of my series of legal victories in federal court. I had won a string of Freedom of Information Act cases that forced the Feds to release thousands of pages of very damaging data. The data proved the Pentagon and just about every other federal agency had fraudulently claimed to be achieving the Congressionally-mandated 23 percent small business contracting goal by including billions of dollars in contracts to hundreds of the largest corporations in the world.

They were so desperate to cover up the embarrassing and potentially incriminating data that government attorneys for the SBA blatantly lied to the court and claimed the SBA had no knowledge or information on the actual recipients of federal small business contracts. 

Judge Marilyn Patel ruled in my favor and forced the government to release the names of thousands of Fortune 500 firms and large businesses from around the world. In her ruling she stated, "The court finds curious the SBA's argument that it does not 'control' the very information it needs to carry out its duties and functions."

I had that statement printed on a very large board that I proudly display in my office.

So, if you think I'm a conspiracy nut like the federal government would have you believe, try and report on my legislation, media appearances, legal victories and my campaign to stop the closure of the SBA. Make one phone call to Retired Naval Commander Terry Sutherland, former worldwide spokesman for the Pentagon who now currently and surprisingly heads the SBA press office and see what happens.

Let me give you a hint – they'll want to talk to you off the record with a group of nameless individuals on a scheduled conference call, REFUSE. That is their favorite trick to confuse and confound journalists. Tell them you will only talk to one person, Terry Sutherland.

Ask Mr. Sutherland why the SBA told a federal judge they didn't know who received federal small business contracts. Ask him why in the past the SBA claimed it was a "Myth" that large corporations received federal small business contracts.

Ask him about the 30 plus federal lawsuits I have won against a variety of federal agencies.

Ask him about the bill I wrote and had introduced into Congress, H.R. 1622, the "Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act" that would once and for all end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants around the world. Ask him why the SBA isn't backing the bill; they say they want to make sure small business contracts don't go to big business.

Ask him why 235 Fortune 500 firms received federal small business contracts last year.

Ask him about the federal definition of a small business that defines a small business as "independently owned" and how that definition would exclude any publicly-traded firms.

Ask him why every SBA Inspector General for nine consecutive years has named the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as the number one problem at the SBA and every year it gets worse and worse.

Most importantly, ask him about the miscoding, simple human error, mistakes and anomalies the SBA claims is the reason thousands of the largest companies in the world have received hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts for over a decade. See if he can explain why these supposed "random anomalies" always report awards to corporate giants as small business awards and never the other way around. Have him explain why, for over a decade, these random errors, miscoding and anomalies always inflate the actual volume and percentage of federal contracts to small businesses while at the same time diverting billions of dollars to Fortune 500 firms.

If you really want to see what a real conspiracy looks like, ask him to explain the difference between Ronald Reagan's plan to permanently close the SBA by combining it with the Department of Commerce and President Obama's plan to "streamline government" by combining the SBA with the Department of Commerce.

Here's the last thing, when you have finished with your conversation with Mr. Sutherland, call me. I will refer you to a court case, a federal statute and one or more federal investigations that will prove everything he told you was a bold-faced lie.

For the latest video from the ASBL, click here.

SOURCE American Small Business League